Saturday, November 28, 2009

Hot new Internet game!

Hey everyone!

Remember when Pro-Football-Reference.com was the no-clutter, find-what-you-need-and-get-out web site that was so much simpler and easier to use than the big-name sites like ESPN.com and Yahoo.com? Are you like me and bummed that, if you're not careful where you wave your mouse, a typical page now looks like this:






















What a mess! Bob from Iowa writes,

"I know the stats are under those ads somewhere, but they're so gosh-darn hard to find! I wish there was an easier way to use the site without having to click on all those silly ads to close them!"

Well, worry no more! No, you can't get rid of those obtrusive roll-over ads, but you can play the newest game that's sweeping the nation! Welcome to the Pro-Football-Reference.com Maze Craze! Just look at this example game board:






















Just avoid all the banner ads that will cover up your page and click, click, click your way to stats nirvana! Isn't that fun, kids? It'll be just like the old days of PFR! You know, like last June?

(Seriously, I really appreciate everything PFR's done through the years and still love their site, and I understand that the guys want to take advantage of advertising revenue opportunities... but could they do it without making their site so difficult to use? It's gotten so bad that I now find myself trying to avoid rolling over the ads on other sites just because I'm afraid they'll spring up and obscure half the page. And we won't even get into the ads they have with sound. I click more times on a page to close or quiet ads these days than I do to actually find information and that, to me, is a massive failure.

And yes, I also realize that the Snickers ad isn't a roll-over. I just somehow couldn't find one in that spot when I did this up, having captured the other image a few days ago.)

3 comments:

Unknown said...
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JanuskieZ said...
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Luis DeLoureiro said...

Jason, I've been reading all of your blogs and have been very entertained.
When you get a chance, swing by the Times Blog today. I wrote something up about Brees' perfect day.

http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/why-brees-and-the-passer-rating-arent-perfect/